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He says all of us are geared to help, and the bombing response shows that

This may be a week of skeptical glances.

When I took the subway home on Monday night, after watching news that three people died and more than 100 were injured in a terror attack in Boston, I looked around at crowds and fellow passengers in Atlanta with an unfair twinge of suspicion. It's difficult not to let events like this impact your patterns of thinking. It's sometimes hard to do what The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg suggests: to keep calm and carry on.

That used to be easy, before Oklahoma City, where I'm from, and before 9/11. Then it was more difficult. And just when it seemed like "terror" was a word that we could use with a sense of distance and irony -- and a concept we watched play out in films like "Zero Dark Thirty" and not in our communities -- our collective sense of security threatened to evaporate again, after two explosions hit the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

We are left searching for answers and perpetrators. Families are mourning those who died and praying for those who lost limbs and were severely injured.

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – Andrea Catalano, a freelance photographer, shot this photo about a mile from the Boston Marathon finish line. He wanted to capture the outpouring of support from spectators and people in the area, comforting and assisting runners.

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Photos:Among the chaos, kindness emerges

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – Catalano says he saw spectators run into their houses and dorm rooms to grab blankets, jackets and water to give to runners.

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Photos:Among the chaos, kindness emerges

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – As police led runners down a secure area, Catalano saw a woman run up crying uncontrollably. She was wondering if her husband, who was at the finish line, was OK. Someone provided her with a phone, and she was able to contact her husband and make sure he was safe.

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Photos:Among the chaos, kindness emerges

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – Ali Hatfield, visiting from Kansas City, Missouri, had finished the marathon 15 minutes before she and her family heard the blasts. She says she's thankful for the help they've received. "We are locked out of our hotel right now," she said on Monday. "But we are staying with a very sweet lady who has opened her home to us."

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Photos:Among the chaos, kindness emerges

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – iReporter Charlie Abrahams, 47, had been shooting photos at mile 11 of the race when he headed back toward Boston and was greeted by sirens. He went over to Copley Square, close to where he lives, and captured photos of the first responders.

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Photos:Among the chaos, kindness emerges

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – Abrahams says he was impressed with how quickly the Boston fire and police departments responded. He says the mood Tuesday in Boston is "very somber."

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Photos:Among the chaos, kindness emerges

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – Wayne E. Chinnock says many police officials blocked off roads and rerouted runners and spectators to nearby streets away from the explosion site.

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Photos:Among the chaos, kindness emerges

Among the chaos, kindness emerges – Support poured in from around the world. Elisa Gioia lit a candle in northeastern Italy and prayed for the Boston runners.

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Dr. Allan Panter treated victims at the site of the explosion, according to CNN's live blog. "I saw at least six to seven people down next to me," he said. "They protected me from the blast. One lady expired. One gentleman lost both his (lower) limbs."

They were runners who offered jackets to each other. And they included a photographer who walked through pools of blood to try to capture the horror and humanity of the scene, all while holding back tears of his own.

"It was a large and disturbing scene. Like each of you I am praying for the victims and their loved ones. It is a terrible, terrible day for them," he said. "Seconds after those bombs went off we saw civilians running to help the victims right alongside members of the Boston Police Department and Boston EMS. And in the hours that followed police and medical personnel from across the region have sent dozens, maybe even hundreds, of volunteers to help us here in Boston.

"That's what Americans do in times of crisis. We come together and we help one another. Moments like these, terrible as they are, don't show our weakness, they show our strength."

That was true in Oklahoma City and New York. It was true in Norway, where people responded to a 2011 massacre by gathering around an Oslo courthouse to sing.

And it's certainly true of Boston.

"Moments like this, and our response to them," Conley said in another press conference on Tuesday morning, "define who we are."

It's understandable to be shocked by these events and to be a little wary in the hours after tragedy. But as the "helpers" in the wake of the Boston bombing reminded me, we are more the same than different, and more good than evil.